In the early morning I removed the rotted and split trim pieces from the corporation yard fence beside the driveway. Jerry never met a screw he didn’t like. The bolts holding the trim pieces on the gate came off with a little ingenuity. Mike will replace the gate as he did with the companion fence in the back yard. The middle trim pieces will be replaced with a single piece of one by four, as we did with the lower trim piece. I sanded the entire fence apart from the gate, and hope to prime and paint it before Mike adds new hardware.
I gave the front slope garden supplemental water, with extra love for the three new plants at the far end and the new portulaca. The moisture meter on the sheltered camellia is not registering. I did, however, note that after watering the excess water seeped out the bottom of the container. The camellia appears healthy and growing, and the ivy that I inherited with the container from Rancho Murieta is now unstoppable.
I hand watered the butter cream marigold and added Plant Starter.
The rose at the end of the line seems to receive more consistent water. I do not know whether the dead growth among the roses is simply a function of the advanced season, or a sign of insufficient water. I applied supplemental water and buried a fertilizer spike by each of the three roses.
Spots continues to devour the potato shrub.
A Year at the Snake 